Valparaiso

 The afternoon was spent on a walking/climbing hills/steps/cobblestones/funicular tour with a couple of really perky women who told us all about the city and some of the history.  They had a huge earthquake in August of 1906 which wiped out all of the town, mostly becase of the fire.  Sound familiar?  There are tons of murals everywhere, much of it intentional to discourage the graffiti hoodlums. 

Here is some of what we saw.

A new building inside an old building.

They are everywhere. 

One of the best meals of all time at la Concepcion.  Put it on your list. 

Scallops parmesan for Pat

Some form of white fish for Al

Something curry for Willie

Brisket for Teri

Peanut butter cheesecake

Coconut mango delight - isn't it gorgeous?  

 

I'm full and exhausted.  Night night. 

(Did you notice that the dessert pictures are extra large?)

Saturday

 After a lot of negotiating and confusion, a driver took us to Atillio & Mochi winery near Valparaiso - not where we planned to visit but all the grapes aligned for us to meet the owners and have a private tasting, even though they were closed for the day.  Delightful people who used to own a restaurant in Brazil but had enough of that so bought 5.5 acres and grow a few grapes.  They do most of the work themselves, only make a few wines, and love it.  She speaks perfect English and her grandmother was a Gallo.  What a small world.  They winery is build of shipping containers that maintain the perfect temp year round.  Look - 

And they grow lavender - I wanted to start weaving wands.  

Dinner at a fancy but not expensive place - - -

Al enjoyed the lamb very much. 

Moving Day

 We all kind of lolled in the morning until a driver with a van (lots of luggage) picked us up for the trip to Vina del Mar, which looks to be a charming city right smack on the oceam.  After checking in we regrouped enough to search for dinner and that's the end of another travel day.  

A Room With a View

Hop on, Hop off

 Or in my case, drag on, drag off.  We had a good overall view of Santiago from the top of the double  decker  bus, stopped to see some stuff, rode a tram up a hill, rode a funicular down the hill, had a disappointing lunch because we went the wrong way.  Like any city with six million people, there is good and not quite so good.  We haven't been very far, but most of what we have seen is clean and beautiful, many nice parks, and very little graffiti.  

Here is some of the day for your viewing pleasure, in no particular order.

Teri with anothe Saint Therese.

Which Alberto is the saint?  

Al likes the wire system in this neighborhood.  

                                                                         Eewwwww!

                                                                  Double eeeeeewwww!

Look!  It's the Sales Force Tower. 

Al enjoyed his dinner, the rest of us weren't as excited so there are no food photos.  

ps  Do you know that funiculi is to ride up and funicula is to ride down on the funicular?  Sing a few bars of the song now and get it stuck in your head for the rest of the day.  You are very welcome.

It's all about the food

 Teri and Willie got settled,  and suddenly it was time for dinner.  Not a lot more to report but you can do some serious drooling over this seafood.

It was such good ceviche with a simple lemon and soy sauce that there wasn't time for a shot.

Scallops for me.

Yep.  Al loved the octopus. 

Willie asked for a boneless fish but we never did find out what it was.

Teri had prawns. 

All gorgeous, right?  Right!  Now we're fixin' to take the Hop on, Hop off bus.  Like I 'm gonna hop.

Santiago!

American Airlines gets praise for a great flight in upgraded Premium or whatever they call it - kind of like Business class used to be.  We had two seats at the bulkhead of a Dreamliner (Boeing made up for that other mess), pillow, blanket, all the amenities necessary on a long International flight.  I slept through dinner but Al says it was very good, hardly like airline food.  We both slept pretty well, arrived at the Marriott for another nap and shower, then explored a couple of gigantic shopping malls.  One of our cheap crappy suitcases has a broken zipper and a broken handle, but we didn't yet find a replacement.    Maybe that roll of duct tape will be the answer.  Most of the malls are just like being anywhere with all the brand names we recognize, including Starbucks.  One big section of restaurants, also many names we find all over the beloved U S of A, but we wanted local, so we walked in circles for a while to find a restaurant recommended by the very helpful people at the Marriott and it was worth it.  

La Dicha

We just told the waiter to bring us good Chilean food and he done good.

Abalone and avocado app.

Short ribe for Al, Grouper for me - both fabulous.  But here comes the chocolate explosion - 

Teri and Willie have arrived to join in the fun but nobody knows what that will be yet.  Stay tuned. 

Not much to tell yet

 Well, at least we're at an airport.  Finally.  Sunday night red-eye from Seattle to Miami.  27 degrees to 79 degrees, but we didn't go out to enjoy it, instead spent time in a nearby hotel to nap and shower.   Yes, we checked in to a hotel in the daytime and left a few hours later.   At least we had luggage.

Now it's Monday evening and we're waiting for the red-eye to Santiago.  We were hoping to enjoy the Admiral's lounge (one-day pass purchased with miles - why would we ever spend That Kind of Money to join such a thing?) but because of so many cancellations all over the country, both lounges are "at capacity."  They pretty much said "sorry, now just run along."  The line at the Rebook Center is out the door, down the hall, and around the corner.  That's just for American.  So we are hanging with a gigantic multitude of other travelers, being greatly amused by the variety of travelers  and entertaining ourselves as only we can.  Al is studying Spanish and math, I'll be knitting as soon as I sign off here.  

Maybe there will be more interesting news in another day or two.   See ya.  

Change of plans

Are you looking for the beginning of our adventure?  So are we.  Today we were scheduled to fly to Houston for a lovely family weekend, but United and Boeing mucked around with that.  Now we'll be flying to Miami on Sunday, Santiago on Monday.  Look what happened in Sequim last night!  Right now the temp is 17.  

Above zero, not so cold if you're in Wisconsin.